Ancient Astronomy

The reign of Akhenaten is one of the most controversial of all Egyptian history since only about the co-regency with Amenhotep III there are more than 1200 books and academic articles that have been written. He has thus become the center of many other controversies: although he had only (six) daughters he would be the father of Tutankhamun (a boy!) despite the fact that the latter had clearly stated to be the son of Amenhotep III, although he had worshiped the sun under different shapes (Aten, Re, Amun) he would be the true father of monotheism that inspired the biblical myth of Moses as well as the Jewish god Adon "Lord", a plagiarism of Aton, although he was the sovereign pontiff of Egypt, a delegation of priests of Amun would have plotted a religious rebellion in order to remove the heretic worship of Aton, etc. All this doesn't seem seriousness. The only way of knowing the (historical) truth is to use a chronology anchored on absolute dates (coming from astronomy). Thus the precise dating of this period confirms historical testimonies: Amenhotep III (1383-1345) reigned 11 years beside his eldest son Amenhotep IV (1356-1340) and was the father of Tutankhamun (1336-1327) born in 1347 BCE.

"Chronology is the backbone of history" is usually taught in schools but in the same time the first fall of Babylon is currently fixed either in 1595 BCE or in 1651, 1531, 1499 depending on historians! Such a difference in timeline prevents from reaching the historical truth. It is for this reason that from Herodotus, the "father of history" (in fact the father of scientific and chronological inquiry), Greek historians have gradually established a system of scientific dating in order to write a universal history. Many astronomical phenomena (observed and described by Babylonian astrologers), which are well identified such as eclipses, enable anyone today (with at least an undergraduate level) to synchronize these ancient dating systems and anchor them on absolute dates. As incredible as it may seem this is still not done (among the hundreds of thousands of theses in history there is none which focuses on chronology, except the one of Isaac Newton in 1728 entitled: Chronology of ancient kingdoms amended). The purpose of the present item is to understand the origin of this anomaly and above all to give the tools for easily verifying important dates in history thanks to numerous practical examples like Jesus' birth on Monday 29 September 2 BCE, Herod's death on Monday 26 January 1 BCE, the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple on Sunday 27 August 587 BCE, the first fall of Babylon soon after April 1499 BCE, etc.

The moon played a major role in the ancient Middle Eastern world as a celestial body, as a material measure of time and temporality, as a site for predicting the future, and as a benevolent god of abundance, prosperity, and in certain places, even healing. In this essay, I discuss both the veneration and the visualization of the moon in Pre-Islamic (ritual) contexts to provide a visual-historical biography of the moon, which was imagined both as a divine presence and as a cosmic actor. For the sake of brevity and coherence, I will focus on the ancient Mesopotamian engagements with the moon during the Bronze and Iron Ages, and pursue the very popular cult of the moon in Hellenistic and Roman Anatolia. In doing so, as an art historian, my biased focus is on the various apparitions of the moon on monuments, works of art, and
the artifacts of visual culture, which will help me narrate its story. Contrary to the modern scientific vision of the moon as a “lifeless, rocky satellite,”3 the protagonist of this new materialist tale is no less than a major cosmic actor, a vibrant and powerful god who shaped and safeguarded the everyday life and fate of humanity. New materialism urges us to return to the matter, liberating it as much as possible from the ontological straitjacket of anthropocentric idealism, symbolism, and classification.

To Madeleine and Kie, for the time we shall never recover v Acknowledgements I am grateful to many people for help, both direct and indirect, in seeing this dissertation through to completion. First and foremost is Prof. Joseph Carter, my dissertation supervisor, mentor and employer for the past six years. Although I arrived at UT and the Institute of Classical Archaeology as a marine archaeologist at heart, this renowned archaeologist of ancient hinterlands taught me to look at all facets of antiquity, and not to forget the historically invisible who played such an important role in ancient civilization. I can never repay his unstinting support, nor can I express enough gratitude for the research opportunities that he has encouraged me to pursue both on land and underwater.

The Aramaic zodiac in the Dead Sea Scrolls, contained in 4Q318 Zodiac Calendar ar and Brontologion, found in Cave 4 at Qumran, has similarities and differences to Babylonian and Hellenistic zodiacs. This information may help to identify the cultural influences in the Aramaic version in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the only extant such zodiac from an ancient primary source. This paper will show how 4Q318 Zodiac Calendar functions both in relation to the Jewish calendar and to the Babylonian calendar. Using data from Rochberg's Babylonian Horoscopes, it will demonstrate empirically why the text should be regarded not as Mesopotamian or Hellenistic, but as a Jewish zodiac calendar.

Los antiguos egipcios nos han legado documentos, en su mayor parte de carácter religioso y funerario, por los que podemos hacernos una idea aproximada de cuáles eran sus conocimientos astronómicos y su cosmovisión. El cielo estrellado sirvió como marco de referencia a muchas de las manifestaciones culturales del antiguo Egipto, por lo que la influencia directa o indirecta de la astronomía en la civilización egipcia la podemos hallar en ámbitos muy diversos, no sólo en su mundo funerario sino también desde la propia religión hasta en la arquitectura. En las siguientes líneas nos acercaremos a ese conocimiento astronómico realizando un recorrido a través de los textos cosmogónicos egipcios, del reflejo de sus concepciones cosmogónicas en su arquitectura, de las alineaciones astronómicas como hierofanías e imagen del orden cósmico, de sus sacerdotes astrónomos, de sus instrumentos astronómicos para medir el tiempo, y de su conocimiento de los cuerpos de la bóveda celeste.

Inanna, Aya and Ninlil; goddesses of the Sirius star Imprint number 38 This imprint pictures a sexual intercourse of sun god Utu with Inanna, a goddess of the Sirius star. On the right stands the moon god Suen dressed in a woollen skirt. This trio: the moon god, the sun god and the Sirius goddess are pictured on many cylinder seals. In this paper I examine some of them. Around 2000 B.C. the Sirius star and the sun were in conjunction from about half April until about half June: rising and setting at the same time: "Egyptians based their calendar on the heliacal rising of Sirius, namely the day it becomes visible just before sunrise after moving far enough away from the glare of the Sun. This occurred just before the annual flooding of the Nile and the summer solstice, after a 70-day absence from the skies. Sirius was identified with the great goddess Isis, while the 70-day period symbolized the passing of Isis and Osiris through the duat (Egyptian underworld)". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius This meant that for 70 days Sirius and the sun formed a couple. In the next verse the conjunction of Sirius with the sun is described as Inanna riding together with her brother, the sun god Utu:

Four stars in the night sky have been formally recognised by their Australian Aboriginal names. The names include three from the Wardaman people of the Northern Territory and one from the Boorong people of western Victoria. The Wardaman star names are Larawag, Wurren and Ginan in the Western constellations Scorpius, Phoenix and Crux (the Southern Cross). The Boorong star name is Unurgunite in Canis Majoris (the Great Dog). They are among 86 new star names drawn from Chinese, Coptic, Hindu, Mayan, Polynesian, South African, and Aboriginal Australian cultures.

Las montañas más emblemáticas de México son los altos volcanes Popocatépetl e Iztaccíhuatl. Hoy en día, el imaginario colectivo se recrea con la personificación del Popocatépetl como un victorioso guerrero azteca que a su regreso encuentra a su prometida Iztaccíhuatl inerte; fiel a su juramento de amor permanece arrodillado a sus pies, pero el designio de los dioses los transfigura en montañas, Popocatépetl con fuego (es un volcán activo) e Iztaccíhuatl (una montaña que se asemeja a una mujer yaciente), son la perpetuidad de una pasión irrealizable. Pero más allá de esta romántica leyenda, ambas montañas han sido veneradas desde hace más de dos mil años, depositándose en sus cimas, laderas y cuevas ofrendas que ahora son del interés de la arqueología. Para el siglo XVI el conquistador español Hernán Cortes pasará con su ejército entre ambas montañas para aproximarse a Tenochtitlán, la capital del entonces imperio azteca, hoy capital de la República Mexicana.

In this paper I will analyse the different features of the Pleiades in the astronomical, astrological, and calendrical interpretation as well as their mythical and cultural background in ancient Mesopotamia. According to cuneiform sources, the Pleiades are among the most important stars. They are simply known in Sumerian as ―the Stars‖ (MUL.MUL), while their Akkadian name, ―the Bristle‖ (zappu), links them to the imagery and the cultural context of the ―Bull of Heaven‖ constellation (Taurus), to which they belong. Pleiades are frequently depicted as seven dots or seven stars, and identified on a mythological level with groups of seven divine beings. In fact, the Sumerian ideogram for ―seven‖ is used as an alternative name for the Pleiades. In particular they show a close relation to a group of demons, called the Seven (Sebēttu), that, according to an etiological myth, causes the eclipse of the moon. The relation of the Pleiades to the war and death sphere is strengthened by their association with the Netherworld god Nergal/Erra, as well as their identification with the god's planet (Mars). Finally, the Pleiades are among the few celestial bodies that receive a cult, and specific prayers are dedicated to them. From the sources it emerges that the Pleiades are mainly related to the movement of the Moon, and it is worth noting that the list of constellations of the ecliptic begins precisely with the Pleiades. Furthermore, the Pleiades play an important part in the calendrical reckoning, a role that is clearly stated in almanacs as the MUL.APIN, as well as in the intercalation scheme based on the conjunction of the Moon and the Pleiades.
Keywords: Mesopotamia, cuneiform, Babylon, Babylonia, Nergal, Mars, Seven, Sebettu, Sibitti, Pleiades

Sundials in Roman and Byzantine Mosaics (1st – 9th Century AD). A scientific monograph. The sundials on ancient mosaics have not been the subject of scientific studies so far. The author has gathered together  in this  publication  the sundials  already known (Torre Anunzaiata, Sarsina, Trier, Saint-Romain-en-Gal, Antiochia and Brading; Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9) and those which have  not  previously  been  identified.  Thanks  to  the author’s  new  identifcations,  the  catalogue  has  been enlarged  by  six  new  sundials (Grand,Tarsus, Antioch – interpreted by H. Pamir; Figs.  3, 6,  8, and 10. Tayibat al-Imam, Jerusalem and Umm al-Rasas (Sebastis); Figs. 10, 11, 12) and three monumental gnomes-columns with multiple functions that were used as monumental sundials [Madaba (Jerusalem), Umm al-Rasas (Kastron Mefaa) and Rome (Jerusalem); Figs. 13–15]. In addition, recognizing fully John H. Humphrey’s  interpretations,  the  author  enriches  the catalogue  by  eight  ancient  mosaic  representations  of obelisks in  circuses (Lyon, Barcelona, Volubilis, Piazza Armerina - two mosaics, Girona, Carthage and Gafsa; Figs.  16–23).  They  performed the roles of monumental sundials. In this way, the catalogue includes  twenty-three  mosaics with  the representations of sundials. They come from the Western and Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. The first mosaic is dated to the beginning of the 1st century AD and the last dates to the 9th century AD. The author, after  a  short  description  of each monument,  summarizes the issue discussing the role of sundials in Roman and Byzantine society, their complex signifcance and symbolic difficult linked with the progress of time on which nature and human life are dependent.

Song and dance are a traditional means of strengthening culture and passing knowledge to successive generations in the Torres Strait of northeastern Australia. Dances incorporate a range of apparatuses to enhance the performance, such as dance machines (Zamiyakal) and headdresses (Dhari). The dances, songs, headdresses and dance machines work together to transfer important knowledge about subsistence survival, social structure, and cultural continuity. This paper explores how celestial phenomena inspire and inform music and dance.

Spreading from Lydia (western Turkey) and Aegean Sea, the coin-shaped currency made of minted precious metals arrived in Eastern Iberian Peninsula (Emporion, Rhode, Catalonia) and Southern Gaul (Massalia) during the 5th century B.C. The first southern Gallic mints rapidly appeared in the second half of the 3rd century B.C. as copies of Greek gold staters and drachma from Emporion or Rhode and specific Gallic coins appeared at the end of the 3rd century B.C.  In the 2nd century B.C., the diffusion in great areas of few types of potins  which weigh variability, the lack of precious metal in their alloy and the high frequency of their loss suggest that they had probably no real monetary value and not the same purpose as contemporary gold or silver coins. Yet, being an image carrier and therefore a vector of information, the potin seemed to have diverted the primary function of minted money to please another interest associated to aristocratic or religious social strata . It became an innovative cultural vector of an elitist knowledge such as the Suessiones potin (region of Soissons, France) called ‘potin au sanglier’ on which appears the first astronomical representation of the Earth-Moon system paced by lunar phases. Interestingly, this representation is still anchored in the Magdalenian  tradition depicted in la Pasiega cave (Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain).

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex, the only one discovered in the twentieth century, was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the  Grolier Codex is half of a 20-page, 104-year divinatory hybrid-style Mesoamerican Venus Almanac, probably the physically oldest surviving pre-Columbian book, and with new radiocarbon dates that place it in the thirteenth century CE. It is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research, it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure, as it has never been officially recognized. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare, the goal of which was to obtain captives for sacrifice, their blood shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The  Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus, greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions. The present study offers a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; presents a documented photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the Codex Mayano-Mexicanus is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.


*****
This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

By c. 3000 BCE, in the late Neolithic, there had been a significant change in the way people materialized their cosmology across Scotland with the introduction of free-standing stones that continued to be erected almost until the end of the Bronze Age (Burl, 1993, 2000). Significantly, a series of astronomical patternings have been empirically verified for many Bronze Age monuments that were erected in the latter Bronze Age (Higginbottom et al., 2000, 2001, 2015). Further, two series of complex landscape patternings associated with the monuments and their orientations have been identified (Higginbottom et al., 2015; Higginbottom and Clay, in press). However, when and where these patterns were first associated with standing-stone structures was unknown. Through innovative statistics and software we show that visible astronomical-landscape variables found at BronzeAge sites on the
inner isles and mainland of western Scotland were actually first established in stone nearly two millennia earlier, likely with the erection of two of the earliest dated British 'great circles': Callanish on the Isle of Lewis and Stenness on the Isle of Orkney. In particular,we introduce our new statistical test that enables the quantitative determination of astronomical connections of stone circles. It is seen that whilst different standing-stone monuments were created over time (Burl, 1993, 2000; Higginbottom et al., 2015) with a mixture of landscape variables (Higginbottom et al., 2015), we nevertheless see that highly relevant landscape markers and other aspects remained unchanged through these years. This suggests that there is some continuity of this cosmological system through time, despite the various radical material and social changes that occurred from the late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (Lynch, 2000; Mullin, 2001; Owoc, 2001).
https://www.altmetric.com/details/10434023#score
Co-author: Roger Clay

© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

For copy of early draft paper see pre-print server:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1402.1338v2.pdf
LINK to pre-print article under file drop down menu in full document view (click on heading of this article if still on my main academia.edu page).

This early draft has half the explanatory text of the methodology of our JAS Reports paper. It is a condensed piece in a form similar to a Nature paper with supplementary text containing some explanations; please feel free to contact for more information.

Aboriginal Australians carefully observe the properties and positions of stars, including both overt and subtle changes in their brightness, for subsistence and social application. These observations are encoded in oral tradition. I examine two Aboriginal oral traditions from South Australia that describe the periodic changing brightness in three pulsating, red-giant variable stars: Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), and Antares (Alpha Scorpii). The Australian Aboriginal accounts stand as the only known descriptions of pulsating variable stars in any Indigenous oral tradition in the world. Researchers examining these oral traditions over the last century, including anthropologists and astronomers, missed the description of these stars as being variable in nature as the ethnographic record contained several misidentifications of stars and celestial objects. Arguably, ethnographers working on Indigenous Knowledge Systems should have academic training in both the natural and social sciences.

The article focuses on the author's research on the chronographical background of the Zodiac Mosaic Calendar in Synagogue at Hammath-Tiberias. He researched to find the origin of mosaic decoration, the twelve zodiac sign, the four seasons, and Helios, which was found in synagogues in two parts of Palestine, Galilee and Judah. The chronograph of the mosaic art was extensively debated. The author further studied the history of Palestine Jews in the 4th century. Most of the work was done during the period of Hillel II.
The author concludes that the mosaic from the Stratum IIa synagogue with the Zodiac Calendar was executed in the time of Hillel II, who said to have died around 365 CE. He proposes the new date of the execution of the Zodiac Mosaic from Hammat-Tiberia (Stratum IIa) after the earthquake in 363, that is, in 364 or 365.

La obra aquí reseñada 1 comienza con un prólogo (pp. ix-xi), escrito por José Miguel Parra, que da paso a una introducción (pp. 1-6) en la que Juan A. Belmonte resume cuáles fueron sus inquietudes al lanzarse en esta aventura egiptológico-astronómica.

This study applies phylogenetic software to motifs connected with the Pleiades as identified in Yuri Berezkin’s database, The Analytical Catalogue of World Mythology and Folklore. The aim of analysis is to determine which, if any, of the analysed motifs are likely to have spread in conjunction with the earliest migrations out of Africa and to the Americas. The Pleiades analysis is compared to an analysis of Orion motifs.

In her contribution, Victoria Altmann-Wendling presents on the one hand the practical application of the lunar phases for the calendar, the regulation of religious festivals and the priests’ services. These indirect pieces of evidence will be further elaborated by Demotic and Greek papyri that contain computations about the moon’s movement and phases. Furthermore, the role of the moon in astrology is elucidated. On the other hand, she shows how the moon and the astronomical phenomena related to it were integrated into the religious imagery and symbolism of Ancient Egypt. Since the sources derive mainly from the Graeco-Roman period in which a multicultural society was living in Egypt, reflections on possible exchange, transfer or adoption of knowledge are possible.


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The second part of 'An ancient Arabian zodiac. The constellations in the Safaitic inscriptions' discusses the position of the Arabian zodiac visa -vis other parapegmata from antiquity, and takes up a comparative etymological study of the zodiac names in an attempt to locate their source. Four appendices discussing tangential issues that arose in the course of this study follow.

"In this brief paper we try to draw the lines of the possible development of the originary iconographic and symbolic repertoire of the Mesopotamian zodiac, which through the Greeks was
adopted in the Western world.
[Keywords: assyriology, Mesopotamia, cuneiform, zodiac, astrology, astronomy]"

“Chronology is the backbone of history” is usually taught in schools but in the same time the first fall of Babylon is currently fixed today (2016) either in 1595 BCE or in 1651, 1531, 1499 depending on historians! In Egyptology the situation is still worse because each Egyptologist has his own chronology (+/- 20 years)! Such a difference in timeline prevents one from reaching the historical truth. It is for this reason that from Herodotus, the “father of history” (in fact the father of scientific and chronological inquiry), Greek historians gradually established a system of scientific dating in order to write a universal history. Many astronomical phenomena (observed and described by Babylonian astrologers), which are well identified such as eclipses, enable anyone today (with at least an undergraduate level) to synchronize these ancient dating systems and anchor them on absolute dates. As incredible as it may seem this is still not done (among the hundreds of thousands of theses in history there is none which focuses on chronology, except the one of Isaac Newton in 1728 entitled: Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended). The purpose of the present brochure is to give the chronologies of the main ancient civilizations (Egyptian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Sumerian, Hittite, Mitannian, Israelite, etc.) with their synchronisms as well as all absolute dating based on astronomical events (which have been precisely dated in a calendar) like eclipses, solar or lunar, and some Sothic risings.
GLASSTREE 2016 https://glasstree.com/shop/catalog/absolute-chronology-of-the-ancient-world-from-1533-bce-to-140-ce_514/

Lists of star names (“decan lists”) have been preserved in several distinct contexts in Egypt from the First Intermediate Period (around 2200 BC) to the second century AD. This chapter looks at both the content and the context of these texts and how each evolved, adapting to different locations and purposes, and accreting new elements. Hypotheses of why and when changes occurred, the function of star lists in funerary decoration, the relationship of the lists to the reality of the star sky, and the possible observational motives for development are discussed.  Sources include diagonal star tables, star lists within and accompanying astronomical ceilings and zodiacs, and texts such as the Fundamentals of the Course of the Stars (Book of Nut) and the Naos of the Decades which also describe decanal stars.

The fourth known pre-Columbian Maya codex—the only one discovered in the 20th century—was found by looters in the mid-1960s. First exhibited in New York in 1971, what has come to be known as the Grolier Codex is half of a hybrid-style 20-page, 104-year Mesoamerican divinatory Venus Almanac. With new radiocarbon dates that place it in the 13th century CE, it is likely to be the oldest surviving book on paper from the Americas as well as the only ancient Maya codex now residing in Mexico. Although most Mayanists have accepted it as authentic, based in part on the author’s 40 years of research,* it remains an unacknowledged Mexican national treasure as it has never been officially recognized except in the State of Chiapas. Mesoamerican Venus Almanacs were widely used in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica to regulate practices of sacred warfare and ritual sacrifice, the goal of which was to obtain captives whose blood was shed to invoke the personified forces of rain and fertility. The Grolier Codex offers unique images of 10 of the 20 manifestations of Venus (named in the Maya Dresden Codex), greatly enriching our knowledge of these traditions documented in four other pre-Columbian codices as well as numerous archaeological and ethnohistoric sources. This article is a summary of the talk given on November 7, 2014 to the Pre-Columbian Society of Washington DC and includes a brief history of accounts of the discovery of the Grolier Codex and allegedly associated artifacts; photographic history; outlines the author’s comprehensive program of research, including several new scientific discoveries leading to an interpretation of the Codex—based on the Dresden Codex and other sources; and offers a new Latinized name that recognizes that the “Codex Mayano-Mexicanus” is an authentic ancient book deriving from the Maya culture and now properly residing in Mexico.

          *See <http://umd.academia.edu/JohnBCarlson>.

Also utilized as part of the November 7, 2014 talk are TWO 1983 historical STUDY GUIDE documents which can be viewed at the following academia.edu links:

• GROLIER CODEX Page Study Guide: Pages 1-9 and Reconstructed Page 10/11 (1983): 

https://www.academia.edu/7911420/GROLIER_CODEX_Page_Study_Guide_Pages_1-9_and_Reconstructed_Page_10_11

• GROLIER CODEX Comparative Study Guide (1983): Grolier pages 1-9 and reconstructed page 10/11 with Maya Dresden Codex Venus Almanac page numbers 48/1 – 50/2 with Venus Station and Directional Associations; Names (on Dresden Rows 17 & 22) of the associated Venus Impersonators; and Initial (1983) interpretations of the Grolier Codex scenes & iconographic interpretations. Over the three decades since 1983, some of the glyphic and iconographic interpretations have changed, as discussed in the presentation. The details are in press:

https://www.academia.edu/9208071/GROLIER_CODEX_Comparative_Study_Guide_1983_

*****

This article has been posted on Academia.edu as part of the Grolier Codex Project of the Center for Archaeoastronomy under the directorship of John B. Carlson, Ph.D.  The Grolier Codex Project seeks to further advance the study of the Maya Grolier Codex.

Early ethnographers and missionaries recorded Aboriginal languages and oral traditions across Australia. Their general lack of astronomical training resulted in misidentifications, transcription errors and omissions in these records. In western Victoria and southeast South Australia many astronomical traditions were recorded but, cur- iously, some of the brightest stars in the sky were omitted. Scholars claimed these stars did not feature in Aboriginal traditions. This continues to be repeated in the literature, but current research shows that these stars may in fact feature in Aboriginal traditions and could be seasonal calendar markers. This paper uses established techniques to identify seasonal stars in the traditions of the Kaurna Aboriginal people of the Adelaide Plains, South Australia.

It is demonstrated that the Greco-Roman zodiac sundials that flourished in Greece and Italy from about the early second century BCE to the second century CE were related to the zodiac calendar in the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the Aramaic Astronomical Book (4Q208-4Q209).
Mediterraneann Archaeology and Archeometry 14.3 (2014): 68-81

Co-Editors: Josefina Rodríguez-Arribas, Charles Burnett, Silke Ackermann and Ryan Szpiech

First published as a special issue of the journal Medieval Encounters (vol. 23, 2017), this volume brings together fifteen studies on various aspects of the astrolabe in medieval cultures.

Contributors are Silke Ackermann, Emilia Calvo, John Davis, Laura Fernández Fernández, Miquel Forcada, Azucena Hernández, David A. King, Taro Mimura, Günther Oestmann, Josefina Rodríguez-Arribas, Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma, Petra G. Schmidl, Giorgio Strano, Flora Vafea, and Johannes Thomann.

In 2010 the author published an alternative chronology for the 22nd Dynasty which identified the eclipse of year 15 of Takeloth II as that of 15 February 756 BC (Thijs, ZÄS 137). It also put the reign of Shoshenq I in c. 843-823 BC, which would disqualify him as the biblical pharaoh Shishak who raided the Jerusalem Temple in or near 925 BC.
In this contribution the evidence underlying this chronology is discussed in detail. Although the focus will be on Shoshenq I and his time (i.e. the 9th century BC), some discussion has been added on the preceding century. Alternative candidates for both Shishak and Zerah the Kushite are given.

Vettius Valens 1.18 contains simple methods for the computation of the planetary positions along the zodiac, which at best give only mean longitudes. Using a preserved summary of Balbillus' astrological work, the author makes the case for Balbillus' authorship, and proposes an explanation for their invention and posterior use in Valens.

Sundials in Roman and Byzantine Mosaics (1st – 9th Century AD). A scientific monograph. The sundials on ancient mosaics have not been the subject of scientific studies so far. The author has gathered together  in this  publication  the sundials  already known (Torre Anunzaiata, Sarsina, Trier, Saint-Romain-en-Gal, Antioch and Brading; Figs. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9) and those which have  not  previously  been  identified.  Thanks  to  the author’s  new  identifcations,  the  catalogue  has  been enlarged  by  six  new  sundials (Grand,Tarsus, Antiochia – interpreted by H. Pamir; Figs.  3, 6,  8, and 10. Tayibat al-Imam, Jerusalem and Umm al-Rasas (Sebastis); Figs. 10, 11, 12) and three monumental gnomes-columns with multiple functions that were used as monumental sundials [Madaba (Jerusalem), Umm al-Rasas (Kastron Mefaa) and Rome (Jerusalem); Figs. 13–15]. In addition, recognizing fully John H. Humphrey’s  interpretations,  the  author  enriches  the catalogue  by  eight  ancient  mosaic  representations  of obelisks in  circuses (Lyon, Barcelona, Volubilis, Piazza Armerina - two mosaics, Girona, Carthage and Gafsa; Figs.  16–23).  They  performed the roles of monumental sundials. In this way, the catalogue includes  twenty-three  mosaics with  the representations of sundials. They come from the Western and Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire. The first mosaic is dated to the beginning of the 1st century AD and the last dates to the 9th century AD. The author, after  a  short  description  of each monument,  summarizes the issue discussing the role of sundials in Roman and Byzantine society, their complex signifcance and symbolic dificult linked with the progress of time on which nature and human life are dependent. See Pdf : https://www.academia.edu/22653583/

Since its discovery by scholars in the late nineteenth century, the last chapter of Sphujidhvaja's Yavanajātaka has been known as one of the earliest extant specimens of Indian astronomical works composed in Sanskrit. Subsequently, thanks to David Pingree's 1978 edition of the text, this chapter became widely recognized as one of the earliest Greek astronomical texts translated into Sanskrit, revealing the remarkable connection between the Greco-Babylonian astral science and the Indian one. However, some of Pingree's claims had been disputed by scholars and Pingree's reading and interpretation of the primary materials have been challenged by scholars such as Shukla (1989) and Falk (2001). In the light of the discovery of a new Nepalese paper manuscript and some other additional materials, some of the lacunae may now be filled and the additional variant readings have given us further clues to an improved interpretation of the text. The present study provides a summary of all the new findings concerning the last chapter of the Yavanajātaka, together with a revised, annotated critical edition.

L’analisi di una rappresentazione egizia ci lascia assai spesso perplessi e sorpresi, costatata l’apparente mancanza di metodo e l’evidente difficoltà di comprensione degli elementi figurativi. Nel caso di rappresentazioni astronomiche, e dunque con l’introduzione di elementi tecnico-scientifici, l’incertezza aumenta ancor più.
La cultura scientifica egizia è infatti caratterizzata da una marcata oscillazione tra precisione e approssimazione. Ad esempio, di fronte all’orientamento della piramide di Cheope, esatto a meno di pochi centesimi di grado, oppure alla corretta formula per il calcolo del volume del tronco di piramide, in molti altri casi la soluzione è solo vagamente approssimata, come nel calcolo dell’area di un quadrilatero generico oppure di quella di un cerchio.
Le rappresentazioni astronomiche non si sottraggono a questa norma, proponendo soluzioni a volte geniali nell’intuizione ma quasi sempre assai trascurate nella realizzazione.
Né è semplice distinguere l’aspetto concesso alla composizione, dagli elementi che devono essere rappresentati nel rispetto del concetto egizio della massima evidenza, da ciò che, infine, deve essere riportato con precisione, per memoria o celebrazione del rito.
Lo zodiaco egizio di gran lunga più famoso, e per le ipotesi qui esposte anche il più interessante, è lo zodiaco circolare di Dendera (noto con il nome di Dendera B, il primo di questo tipo di zodiaci), trasferito a Parigi nel 1828 e oggi al Louvre, proveniente dalla metà Ovest del soffitto della stanza centrale della cappella Est di Osiris, posta sul tetto del tempio di Hathor.
La rappresentazione dello zodiaco circolare di Dendera, anche e soprattutto per il suo presentarsi come prototipo, pone alcuni rilevanti problemi interpretativi, legati saldamente tra loro:
- Ricercare le motivazioni dell’orientamento dell’asse del tempio, ruotato di circa 18 gradi rispetto al Nord, verso Est.
- Studiare la disposizione delle costellazioni, cercando di comprendere se si tratta di una sorta di deformazione ad anello degli zodiaci rettangolari o piuttosto se il risultato derivi da un metodo riproducibile e riconoscibile.
- Valutare se i dati in nostro possesso sono sufficienti per definire una precisa datazione del disco, oppure almeno un ambito temporale ristretto.
- Analizzare il significato della rotazione, rispetto al corretto orientamento geografico, dei simboli geroglifici Est e Ovest, posti sull’anello esterno del disco.
Se la prima domanda ha già trovato una quasi certa risposta definitiva, le altre costituiscono ancora oggetto di discussione.
Il metodo proposto in questa sede prevede la semplice misura, presa sull’ideale sfera celeste, della lunghezza della corda tra una stella ed un polo di riferimento ed il suo riporto radiale sul piano di rappresentazione, ancora una volta a partire da un polo. Inoltre, sono qui proposte due date fondatrici, corrispondenti a due eclissi di Sole, in grado di giustificare la configurazione complessiva.

Hérodote "le père de l'histoire" est en fait le père de l'enquête scientifique et notamment de la chronologie puisqu'à partir de cette époque plusieurs historiens grecs vont progressivement constituer un système de datation permettant d'écrire une histoire universelle indépendante des calendriers nationaux. Plusieurs systèmes vont progressivement être utilisés (suivant les auteurs): les années archontiques (pour les années de -753 à 275), les années olympiques (de -776 à 261), les années consulaires (de -509 à 541), etc. Pour dater les événements avant -776 les historiens grecs, puis romains, ont dû consulter les annales égyptiennes (accessibles uniquement par le biais des prêtres), comme l'a fait Hérodote à plusieurs reprises (Enquête II:43,113,145). Les phénomènes astronomiques bien identifiés, comme les éclipses, permettent de synchroniser tous ces systèmes de datation et de les ancrer sur des dates absolues.

This chapter examines research carried out to date on the Sky Bear and seeks to demonstrate the implications of this line of research for ―cultural astronomy‖. It begins by reviewing research that has been done cross-culturally on bear ceremonialism, focusing on the role of circumpolar stars, Dipper stars and stars adjacent to them, and how they came to be integrated, cognitively, into an over-arching cosmology shared by different hunter-gatherer populations across the N. Hemisphere. Next, using three mutually reinforcing ethnographic datasets, the manner in which, specifically in Europe, this archaic worldview, characterized by embodied reciprocity, allowed humans, animals and nature to be bound together. The cosmology, grounded in the belief that humans descended from bears, integrated skyscape and landscape into a single interlocking reality. Furthermore, the worldview can be understood as embodying a ―relational epistemology‖ or ―relational ecology‖. This more culturally-informed approach coincides with the goals of ―cultural astronomy‖ as well as the methodology and goals of the emerging field of archaeological ethnography. The reasons that these particular sky resources were chosen to project this set of spirtual beliefs skyward are also addressed. In the final section I suggest that the skyscape acts a kind of mnemonic device. As such, it is a cognitive resource, readily available to the social collective in question, which can act as a repository for past beliefs. Anchoring key components of a cosmology in the stars above allows the resulting skyscape to act as an enduring ―memory bank‖. In short, the datasets analyzed facilitate the reconstruction of a European-wide ethno-cultural substrate that points to an archaic relational cosmovision and the belief that humans descended from bears as well as providing evidence for the way that skyscape and landscape were integrated into this cosmology.